Apparatus for controlling vehicular traffic by radio



Aug. 23, 1938. c. ALIIMARAS 2,128,067

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING VEHIOULAR TRAFFIC BY RADIO Filed ril...l.'l.1955 INVENTOR;

Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FORCONTROLLING VEHICULAR TRAFFIC BY RADIO Constantine Aiimaras, New York,N. Y.

Application April 17, 1935, Serial No. 16,750

1 Claim. (01. 177-337) The present invention relates to an improve- Theforegoing and other features of advanment in an apparatus forcontrolling vehicular tage will be apprehended as the hereindescripmovement, and for indicating, where necessary, tion proceeds, andit is obvious that modifications and if required, visual acquiescence tosuch conmay be made in the structure herein, without de- 6 trol. partingfrom the spirit hereof or the scope of .5

While the herein application discloses the dethe appended claim. 7 viceapplied to an automobile, it will be obvious The hereinafter discloseddevie: is .intended that the apparatus may be applied to the control tocooperate with a radio broadcast station, of of trains or other modes ofvehicular or passuitable frequency and wavelength, wherein, suit- 10senger traffic. able signals are broadcast intermittently, with 10 j Theimportant feature of the present invention timed silent intervals. Thetransmitter station is in the provision of traflic control means uponmay be located at a police station, and the wirea vehicle in the form ofa standard radio receiver, less signals transmitted at predeterminedinteroperated by and in circuit with, in the present vals by a timingclock. By this means, a signal J6 instance, the ignition battery, orcurrent source, transmitting station can control and supervise the ofthe automobile. The vehicle is provided with movements of vehicleswithin the limits 'of any radio receiver operated means whereby trafliccity, regardless of its size and the numbers of control signal lightscarried by the vehicle and automobiles in said city. in circuit with theignition battery, or other elec- Each automobile may be equipped withthe api tric current source, are 'controlled by the said paratushereinafter described in detail, and thus, receiver to indicate to thedriver of the vehicle within understood zone limits is subject to suthe"stop and go periods, from a central aupervised trafllc movement,through signals thority, and to also indicate to others the statusnating from the transmitter station. of the vehicle, whether in thestop" period or the In the drawing,

85 "go" period, so that cross traillc receives a ve- Fig. 1 is afragmentary. partially sectioned hicular warning, when the crossing isclear or view, in elevation, of an automobile showing the when the crosstrafllc should stop, as will appear present improvement as applied to anautomomore in detail, later. bile;

A further feature is in the provision of means, Fig. 2 is a diagrammaticy t of a adio ,3 whereby the stopping and starting of the vewaveactuated radio signal receiver; hicle is indicated by an electric lightcircuit con- Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic layout of a moditrolled by theactions of the vehicular speedomfled form of radio wave actuated radiosignal eter. receiver;

Another feature is in the provision of man- Fig. 4 is an enlargedsectional view of one of .35 ually operated means, in connection withthe rethe traiilc signal lights of Fig. 1, taken on line ceiver,actuated trafllc circuit whereby the alterl4, looking in the directionof the arrows; v nate stop and go periods may be synchronously and set,manually, to alter the periodic cycle of ve- Fig. 5 is a similar viewtaken on line 5-5, Fig.

hicular trafllc indication, such as would be en- 1, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

40 countered when a vehicle in turning right hand One form of thepresent traffic control means, 40 out of a cross street on a go period,and may be radio wave actuated, to set or change a vehicle utilized toalter the sequence of vehicular traffic carried, tramc signal lightsystem, is sh wn in signals to'suit the sequence of the main trafllc m2, and is similar to t one shown as s e into which the vehicle hasturnedplied to and mounted in the vehicle of Fig. 1.

It will be noted, as hereinafter set out in de- It comprises a receivingantenna A connected tail, that the vehicle may have two sets of trafficinto an amplifying radio receiver generany indicating lights, one setindicating the supernoted b H which receiver is co t d b l visorycontrol signal, sent from a central radio y n EC 9 y w ing it into oneend of the automobile ignition broadcasting station, and which signal ona suit- ,50 able radio frequency and wave length, conditions andlighting battery the ther end of the I pliiler radio circuitbeingconnected to ground the receiver actuated vehicular traffic lightson the vehicle, and a second set'of lights controlled On the frame F s.1 and 2- v bythe movement oi the vehicular speedometer, Th battery 3 isalso n ed to frame F. which is in turn operated by vehicular move- F sasat G. y s other erminal l3. see also so ment or stoppage. Fig. 2. Aswitch .9, Fig. 2, may be provided in line It, to control the amplifiercircuit of receiver II.

A relay switch ll, connected to the receiver II, by wiring h and i, Fig.2, operates upon receipt of a signal in said receiver, and becomesresuitantly excited, to thus attract a spring held switch l8, pivoted towiring a, to close upon contact of wiring 1:, said switch being normallystrained against stop pins 20 by spring I! in open circuit position.

Upon closing of switch l8, current fiows from battery B through wiringlc, 1, l8, n, through the winding on solenoid switch 2|, and throughwiring m to the opposite terminal of battery B. This circuit closingaction. causes the solenoid plunger i2 in solenoid 2i to move to theright, as viewed in Fig. 2, drawing with it a link connector 22, whichconnects solenoid l2 with a toothed rack bar 23, the other end of saidrack bar 23 being stressed to the left by a coiled tension spring 24connected between said rack bar and a fixed pin 25.

The underface of the rack bar 23 is provided as seen, in Fig. 2, with aplurality of fixed rack teeth which mesh with a toothed ratchet 26,which is amxed to a rotatable four way switch 26', which is mounted upona central shaft 23', for stepped rotation by each stroke of the ratchetbar 22.

The four way. switch is provided with a switch arm p, which is of suchdimension, in length as to alternately span, during its rotation, stepby step, and contact with opposed contact buttons S and u, and t and v.Contacts 8 and t are connected to one terminal of battery B throughwiring i having two-branches, as shown. Contacts at and v are connectedthrough lamps l and 9 to ground G by conductor 1/ and 2: respectively.

As shown in Fig. 2, switch arm 9 is in circuit closing position, toconnect lamp 9, shown as a red stop signal R, between battery 13 andground G.

When the radio wave or wireless signal has, on a periodical operation,actuated the amplifier Ii to operate to move switch arm 1) to contacts Sand u, as shown in Fig. 2, the red lamp 9, mounted at the radiator capposition, Fig. 1, indicates to the driver of the automobile, of thebroadcast signal to stop, for cross trafilc.

After the usual period of delay the broadcast station sends anothersignal, and the solenoid switch operates ratchet bar 23' to pull overthe switch arm p to contact with buttons t and 0,

respectively, thus coupling green,.- or "go lamp MG between battery Band ground G, and the driver thus starts the automobile and continues onhis way until he receives another red or "stop" light signal. Afterreceiving the stop signal the driver continues moving until he reachesthe nearest traflic crossing, whereupon he stops his vehicle, until heagain receivesthe green go signal.

As above described, it is ascertained that as the alternate trafllccontrol signals are broadcast, at predetermined intervals, they causethe vehicle carried trafilc lights to become automatically andalternately changed, and while the broadcast signal wave may be of onlya few seconds duration, the signal lights SR and MG remain in operationduring their respective, alternate operative periods.

Further, as disclosed, herein the lights SR and "G are so located andconstructed that the lights may be viewed fore and aft, thus giving boththe driver of the vehicle and the trafllc coming towards him as well asthe trafilc policeman, a view or the controlling light. The lamp or lamphouse construction for both lights OR and NO, as in Fig. 6 comprise,preferably, opaque side panels 0' and 9', andtransparent glass panels Rand R with a centrally located electric light L therein. In practice thelights DR and IIIG may be in superposed relation as in Fig. l.

The structure of Fig. 2 is provided with a means for permitting ofmanual setting of the lights SR and HG, in a case where the driver backsout of his garage onto the street, throws in switch a to set upoperation or the receiver ii, and finds when he arrives at the firstcrossstreet that his trafliclight SR or IIIG is not in synchronism withthe trafllc light periods. In this event, the driver pulls on hand leveri2, Fig. 2, operating the solenoid actuated latch bar II to set theswitch arm 9 at its proper contacts and the mechanism is then set forcontinued synchronized operation with the proper periods of thebroadcast trafllc impulses, as received by eneral tramc.

A modified form of radio wave controlled circult is shown in Fig.3, inwhich many of the indices are for parts similar to those as described inFig. 2.

In Fig. 3, A is the antenna, II is the radio amplifying receiver, h andi are wires connecting the relay coil H to the amplifying receiver,whereby, when a prolonged, timed signal is received it is translated bythe radio apparatus in receiver H into an audio output which, in turncauses a timed current fiow in the coil 0! relay H, which causes relay Hto draw pivoted switch arm l8, attached to wiring i into contact withIT, holding the same during the duration of the signal, thus strainingattached coiled tension spring I! the other end of which is fixedlyattached at a fixed point 20'. This action causes conductor 1' to beelectrically connected to switch arm 18, closing the circuit throughconductor 7'. contact a, connection a, contact t, conductor Z, lamp 9Rto ground G. From switch arm ll, conductors 1' and k connect said arm tobattery B. Conductor k also connects receiver H to battery B, the'otherend of this receiver circuit being grounded at G, by conductor M. Theopposite end of battery B is also grounded by conductor I! to ground G.Conductor k is controlled by manual switch s to cut receiver ii into andout of connection with battery B. Upon cessation of the signal thespring returns arm l8 back toclose with the contact of conductor 0.

As described, the'circuit of Fig. 3, under normal operative conditions,when a timed, prolonged impulse is received, causes switch arm II toclose the operative circuit to cause the lamp- 9R to become illuminatedduring the stop period. Cessation of the impulse causes the switch armIt to become released from relay l1, upon which release, the switch armII is returned to the position shown under stress of the spring II. Thiscauses the arm II to close with contact on conductor q, and closes thecircuit to ground G through lamp IIG, to illuminate the same, throughconductor q, contact S, connector 4:, contact v, conductor 11 and lampMG and to ground G, thus automatically holding the "go lamp IOGilluminated through the go" period. In this circuit, therefore, onereceived, timed radio impulse operates to close a circuit to operate onelight and a subsequent sequential cessation of the timed impulseoperates to open said closed circuit to permit automatic closure of asecond light circuit, and in this respect the circuit of Fig. 3 whileobtaining the desired lamp control, accomplishes this result in aslightly different manner than the result is accomplished by thecircuit-of Fig. 2, in which each short, successive impulse causes analternate positive lamp circuit closing and simultaneous circuit openingaction, the alternate periods of operation of which are not controlledby the prolongation of the broadcast impulse waves.

In Fig. 3, the contacts S, v, u and t, and the arms a: and z with thecentral knob w are in the form of a four way switch generally denoted by3 I, the contacts S, v. u. and t being relatively fixed and the knob toand its attached arms a: and a forming a unitary, rotatable switchmember, which, like manually operated hand lever I! of Fig. 2, may berotatively operated to manually synchronize the signal light sequence ofthe vehicle to be in accord with the broadcast radio go" and stop signalsequences, thereby to be in unison with the trafilc control of thebroadcast transmitter, thus changing the contact positions of the switchwith contacts S, v, u and t.

InFig. 1 the lamps 8G and IR are shown operatively mounted upon the moiof the vehicle, to be thus easily visible to other trafllc. As shown thestop or red lamp IR is superposed upon the go or green lamp 8G, and eachlamp may be provided, as in Fig. 5, ,with a light bulb L, and isprovided'with colored glass walls, R for red and G for green, mounted inframe I, so that, when the vehicle is ata standstill, with the needle incontact with button contact ll, Fig. 4, the lower lamp 8G shows green"lights on both sides of said lamp, with red lights fore and aft, thussignalling to cross trafllc a go orgreen signal, and showing stop or redlights to through traiiic, both in the rear and front of the vehicle.

Conversely, when the vehicle receives a radio impulse to go, movement ofthe vehicle causes the speedometer needle to leave contact 14, and tomove onto the circular contact it. This action cuts out the lower light8G, and connects in the upper go light, which as in Fig. 5, has fore andaft green light glass panes G-G, and red side light glass panes R,R.

As thus described, when the vehicle is moving, the top running lightshows a stop or red light to cross trafllc, and green to throughtrafiic, both to the front and rear of the vehicle, thus indicating tocross traffic that it should stop and to through traflic the "go signal.In this manner the two systems, the radio control signals and thesequentially operated, running, acquiescence" lights tend to coordinatethe movement of traffic in an orderly manner.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

A device on a vehicle traversing highways, responsive to periodicallytransmitted wireless signals spaced to determine stop and go signalingperiods, comprising a radio receiver, a stop and go signaling means, astep by step circuit closer, means for operating said stop and go ofsaid signals.

CONSTANTINE ALIMARAS.

